The good news in the Southwest is that with the increased rainwater and snowfall, July 2011 over July 2010 water levels in the four major water reservoirs serving the Southwest have either risen (Lake Powell +27 ft., Lake Mead +30 ft.), remained flat (Lake Mohave 1 ft. below capacity), or are at virtual capacity, like Lake Havasu.

While news of increasing waters in the Southwest is great news, the news of increasing water in the grain belt is devastating, as the Missouri, Mississippi, Souris and Red rivers are all overflowing their banks.

Before man graced these areas, the floods were regular and probably the main reason for this fertile grain belt and huge aquifer under the plains. However, with human settlements there, floods are definitely a problem, and drought is definitely not the hot topic it was just a few years ago.

In fact, according to the National Weather Service (www.nws.noaa.gov) the only place the U.S. is experiencing any persistent drought is in a contiguous elbow from western Oklahoma, through central Texas, and eastward to northern Louisiana. At the same time, in the entire southern U.S. from eastern Arizona to the Texas elbow, and from southeastern Texas to North Carolina, drought conditions are all expected to improve.

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Responding to their current drought conditions, community after community throughout the southeast and southwest put water use restrictions on landscapes. Now, with water levels rising, California cities like Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and Crescenta Valley are beginning to lift those restrictions. At the same time (and quite logically) cities and communities throughout the ?EUR??,,????'?????<